Last night - the 23rd of October, 2019 - we held our annual HRS Networking Event at the Royal Society of Chemistry in Burlington House, London. As in previous years, the event was a great success, with many industry scientists in attendance and some fantastic speeches from a variety of influential figures.

The date for this event wasn't chosen idly: 23rd October 2019 was also Hyper Recruitment Solutions' 7th anniversary, and it was wonderful to spend the evening in the same room where Ricky Martin and Lord Sugar officially launched the company 7 years ago to the day.

Pictured above: Ricky Martin and Lord Sugar launch HRS on 23rd October 2012.

Who spoke at last night's networking event?

Our guest speakers were:

Ian Birch, Quality Director and Consultant QP

• Focus: Quality Assurance

Dr Sharon Brownlow, Head of Collaborations at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult

• Focus: Cell and Gene Therapy

Elizabeth Madichie, TOPRA Board Director and Global Regulatory Affairs Consultant

• Focus: Regulatory Affairs

Dr Tony Jones, CEO of One Nucleus

• Focus: Life Sciences

All speeches were very well received, and the ensuing Q&A segment bore some interesting questions and sparked lively debate. The topic for this event was 2020 Considerations for Pharma / Biotech - here are some of the key takeaways from the evening's discussion:

• A common thread concerned how technology is evolving at a rate we've never seen before. All of the functions within a successful pharma / biotech organisation need to adapt their approaches to data, automation and machine learning.
  
  
• Overlaying the message about the future of tech in pharma / biotech, another clear theme was how to attract and retain talent in this sector.
  
  
• HRS founder Ricky Martin closed the above conversation with a clear message to the room: that every person within a business should be clear on their 'why'. Why do they work there? If this question can be answered, it well help organisations to support existing talent and identify why new talent should want to be there too.

HRS donated £10 to the Alzheimer's Society on behalf of each and every delegate in attendance - the Alzheimer's Society is one of our dedicated charities, and it's especially close to the heart of our Managing Director Ricky Martin.

As ever, we went all out with the decor and refreshments at this event - we even had a whole periodic table of colourful chemistry-themed cupcakes!

Learn More About HRS   Follow HRS on Twitter